Melbourne

Your supervisors need to spend about 15 minutes listing responses to questions such as - 

• How long you worked together  
• Strengths/concerns. 
• Professionalism
• Teaching effectiveness
• School relationships
• Personal qualities

These responses are then added to your profile for recruiters to access. 

How many do I need as a teacher?

Although we request 5 online confidential references, we will accept a minimum of 4 as long as three are professional references submitted on our Teaching Reference forms. Search Associates reserves the right to ask for additional references, beyond what is required, if we feel it is necessary.

Why do you need to verify references if they are written from a generic email address?

We can’t know if your references are legitimate if they come from a gmail/yahoo address, so we need to follow these references up, which may take some time. We understand that there might be circumstances in which a supervisor needs to use their personal e-mail address (if they are retired, changing schools, etc.). Please do your best to ensure that references are from school based email accounts and this will help expedite the registration process.

I don’t want my principal to know I am looking for a new position

We understand your hesitation and many teachers feel the same! We don't contact your referees - a school interested in you would call them. However, we strongly recommend that your Principal knows you are looking as they will need to write a reference in order for us to make you active. If you are concerned, we advise saying that you are 'considering the possibility of changing schools'. It would be best to become active towards the end of the year, say October, to start the following August.

What references are most valued?

Recruiters understand that a head of school or director may not know you intimately, however, they hear how teachers are impacting the school environment and can make general assessments based on feedback from a variety of sources.

Principals and Assistant/Deputy Principals references are also important to secure as they would have the best knowledge of your teaching and contribution to the school.

Department head references are also valuable, but do not carry as much weight as those in more senior positions.

Colleagues know you the best as they work closest to you. Unfortunately, we do not accept these as they are less impartial. Recruiters want to see references from supervisors who are able to comment objectively on your performance as a result of a teacher development / appraisal system! 

Parent references round out your references and are often the icing on the cake – not essential, but another perspective.

We recognise that in some schools, especially those that are quite small, it may not be possible to obtain multiple supervisor references. Please contact Nick if you need further guidance.

What teachers need to ask for

Two references submitted from CURRENT employer/Supervisors

• One must from the Principal level or higher
• The second from the Assistant Principal, or similar level, or higher. ONLY if you are unable to provide a second reference from this level (strongly preferred), can you submit a reference from the level of academic coordinator, year level coordinator, Dept. Head, etc.
• Please choose the “Teaching Reference” form when submitting your reference request

AND One reference from PAST employment (within 6 years)

• From Assistant Principal, or similar level, or higher. ONLY if you are unable to provide a reference from this level (strongly preferred), can you submit a reference from the level of academic coordinator, year level coordinator, Dept. Head, etc.
• Please choose the “Teaching Reference” form when submitting your reference requests
• One or Two “Parent” references (parents of students you teach or taught)

• If you are unable to get Parent references, please request one additional Supervisor reference in its place
• Please choose the “Parent” form when submitting your reference request

I want to delete the reference from ‘x’

In theory, yes you can. Please contact me as requests for deleting a reference are reviewed on a case by case basis and must be approved by Search Associates before removal. Individual candidates cannot delete references themselves. Please be aware that we present your best references on your profile.

I am still at the same school I was at when I asked for references 2 years ago. Should I get new ones?

You might like to think about asking for another reference from a different supervisor as people will know you very well by now and recruiters look for current information on candidates.

All of my required confidential references have been submitted but they are not checked off as complete on my “Requirements Box”, why?

If you think all of your references have been submitted, and this box is still not checked, please contact us. We have to manually check the box from our end and we may have just missed it. It is nothing to worry about and only takes a second.

I want to update one of my old references. How do I do this?

You can simply send out a request form to your referee to complete a new form. Once we receive it, we can delete the old one.

Can you give me an idea of whether my confidential references are strong?

All confidential references are completely confidential and therefore, we are unable to divulge the contents. (Whether they be good, bad or indifferent) However, we would not accept you as a candidate if we felt you would not have a reasonable chance of getting a job!